Our Hopeful Home: Vintage Ceiling Tile Transformation

DIY farmhouse shelves pray big sign tin ceiling tiles

Has your decorating style changed over the years? Mine sure has. There was a time when I was partial to a mix of traditional and country, but today that's not the case. There's nothing wrong with change, but for the fact that you're left with home decor items, furniture and accessories you no longer need or want. In an effort to recycle, I do try to use some of these pieces over again in different ways, or in different rooms, etc. And while some can be used "as is" I find that sometimes a little DIY magic is necessary for that item to remain useful in light of my style preference of the day.

*This post contains affiliate links. A purchase of any of these items helps to support this blog and its creative efforts at no cost to you. To read more, please see my disclosure page.

painted vintage ceiling tile distressed black wood frame

Here's one such item. I purchased 4 of these framed vintage ceiling tiles at a craft show in Galena, Illinois 15 years ago. At least I was told they were vintage, having actually been taken from an old building before its demolition. And while they were perfect for my country style decorating back in the day, eventually they no longer fit in with my evolving decor.

I was partial to their history, as well as the crackled paint on the frames.

And believe it or not, the colors matched my decor perfectly. Until they didn't. So they sat in the basement till our infamous garage sale two years ago. After which they went right back to the basement. I considered trying to sell them on our local town garage sale Facebook page, but since they hadn't sold at our actual garage sale I figured it wasn't worth the hassle. I felt bad about just taking them to Goodwill so I held onto them.

Tin Ceiling Tiles | Vintage Tin Ceiling Tiles

Antique Farmhouse

Then I had an epiphany. I had been noticing with some frequency that a few of my favorite online decor retailers (as well as some local craft/home decor big box stores) were selling -- you guessed it -- tin ceiling tiles, but with a chippy, shabby look to them, which was much more to my current taste. So why not give mine a facelift?

I toyed with the idea of taking the tiles out of the frames, but as you can see here the metal tabs on the back of the frame were actually hot glued to the frame. So I thought I'd leave well enough alone on that front. I did, however, feel the need to paint and distress them.

Materials

Ceiling tiles

Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral Paint in Fluff

paint brush

sandpaper or sanding sponge

white painted framed ceiling tile wall art

Here it is after two coats of paint.

And here it is after I sanded both the tile and the frame.

painted distressed vintage ceiling tile wall art boxwood wreath porcelain cow creamer

cow cremer pitcher boxwood wreath tin ceiling tile

It fits in so much better with my modern farmhouse vibe, don't you think?

I had a blast using them to style my DIY farmhouse dining room shelves.

So what's the take-away from all this? That it's okay to change your decorating style, and even more okay to recycle some old favorites into some new favorites.

And if you'd rather get the ceiling tile look -- but in the form of wallpaper (which I think is a pretty neat option) -- check out Vintage Tin Tile Peel and Stick Wallpaper.

Well, that's it until next time, friends!

I hope I've inspired you in some way
and you enjoyed reading about my
Vintage Ceiling Tile Transformation.

Don't forget to Pin it!

Stay in touch: Just click on my Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram icons in my top right sidebar. You can also sign up there to receive my blog posts via email newsletter as well.